In February of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, when the entire northern land was still shrouded in severe cold, and even the military headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army had not yet issued military orders, there were two places in the northwest far away from Chang'an, which seemed to have entered spring in advance. Liangzhou and Suzhou, two important towns in Hexi Province, have invariably started the pace of the new year. Tuoba Sijian and Zhang Quanfu, the two highest civil affairs officials in the northwest, sat in two places respectively, commanding tens of thousands of prisoners of war and countless construction company brigades gathered in the two places to start new construction. The commissioner of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, who entered the two places one step in advance, also took the first batch of representatives of major businesses to enter the industrial zones in the northwest and the two places kept pointing at the planning map, and from time to time they would go to the person in charge of the construction company in charge of the construction to revise some specific indicators.

Less than a month after the end of the imperial conference on the Chang'an side, the northwest side was nervously on the right track, with the support of a huge number of prisoners of war and recruited people, although the climate was cold and Suzhou even had a snow after entering February, but it still could not stop this boom.

"Deputy Prime Minister, the site of Suzhou Industrial Zone is well chosen, located in the northeast of Daze, not only close to the factory and mine, but also taking into account the wind direction in the northwest." Yang Hu sat in charge of the construction of the steel industrial zone in Suzhou and was faster than that in Liangzhou. Moreover, in recent years, the construction company has been continuously undertaking large-scale infrastructure construction in the empire, accumulating rich experience, and has its own experience in infrastructure construction under various terrain and climatic conditions, so just looking at the drawings, you can know that the site selection of Suzhou is thoughtful.

"That's the credit of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Water Resources and Environmental Protection, I don't care about this, I didn't have to stay in Suzhou if I knew you were here." Tuoba Si Yan smiled and said, "Your eldest brother is too busy with his feet on Shule's side, I will rush back after staying for a few more days, and I will leave it to you here." ”

"These two industrial zones in the northwest not only drive the economic development of the entire Hexi Province and its surrounding areas, but more importantly, provide sufficient material support for Anxi. The output of the steel mills needed to be given priority to the needs of the construction of the railway, and the cabinet said that the railway network must be extended to the northwest Shule this year, so as to stabilize the empire's rule in Anxi and support the great cause of the westward expedition. Tuoba Sizhi threw Yang Hu to supervise the construction site, and he quickly found Zhang Qiang and Yu Wenli, who led the team to the northwest to form the Great Northwest Heavy Industry, and said with a smile: "Everyone came to the northwest regardless of the severe cold, and I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the military and civilians in the northwest." ”

"The deputy prime minister said with a smile, the formation of the Great Northwest Heavy Industry is in response to the call of the emperor and the empire, and it is also an opportunity for us businesses, so Yu Wenli does not dare to be the deputy prime minister." Zhang Qiang is here to represent the assets of the royal family, so he is very low-key, and the steel plant is basically based on the Yuwen family, after all, the Yuwen family has formed its own scale in the steel field, and their family has experience in establishing a steel plant in the northwest interior, so they smiled on behalf of a group of merchants.

Suzhou Northwest Heavy Industry was designed by Li Xuanqing according to the steel plant in the same place in later generations, so the scale of Suzhou Iron and Steel Plant is much larger than that of the previous steel plant, in addition to the steel plant of the Yuwen family, there is also the steel plant of the Murong family in the later period, and even the state-owned steel plant under the logistics department will also establish a branch here. If the heavy industry, especially the military industry, is developed here, I am afraid that there will be more supporting factories and military facilities in the future. So it's not just about the industrial zone, Suzhou is already planning to expand the whole city because of this matter, and build a series of supporting facilities around the industrial zone, including residential areas and commercial streets. And some of these facilities must be completed one step ahead of schedule, because the steel plant is under construction at the same time, Yelujia and Chang'an Anjia investment in iron ore mining has been on the right track, and will start construction immediately after February, Suzhou coal and iron is not lacking, the development of the steel industry is unique, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is actually in Suzhou to rebuild a steel city.

"When will the backbone of the factory you transferred from the mainland be in place?" After Tuoba Sizhi hurriedly said a few words, he left for the Suzhou Thorn Mansion, ready to coordinate the impact of this sudden large number of outsiders on the locals in Suzhou, Suzhou was originally not much Han people, although there were many people moving west from the interior in the past two years, but there are still many nomadic tribes here, and many times the grassland Tatar tribe will also come here in winter to avoid the cold, which can be regarded as a complex ethnic composition.

Zhang Qiang walked over to Yuwenli and asked after Tuoba Si left, the steel plant is the core of Suzhou Heavy Industry, as the largest steel plant in the first phase, how many people the Yuwen family needs to move over largely determines the scale of other upstream and downstream industries, and these have a lot to do with the residential areas built on the side of the Thorn Mansion.

"The first batch of 15,000 people will be transferred from several major bases in Fengzhou and Shenzhou in Guanzhong, and the remaining basic workers will be partially solved from within Hexi Province, and some will be handed over to prisoners of war screened by the National Guard." Yu Wenli smiled: "Our size is 50,000 workers in the steel plant, what about you? What did the queen tell you? ”

"The Northwest Forge may be the center of the entire Northwest Heavy Industry for a period of time in the future, so the Queen Mother is making a big deal this time, and our side is preparing to re-establish a new manufacturing group." Zhang Qiang smiled slightly, in addition to Li Xuanqing's considerations, there is also a plan to cooperate with the equipment department, the royal family's machine manufacturing itself is shared with the equipment department's information technology, but the focus is different, the equipment department focuses on the development of the military industry, and the developed machines are also military, while the royal family is mostly based on civilian general technology, although the six major families have developed rapidly in recent years, but the innovation of core technology is not as good as the royal family. The reason for this is that in addition to the cheating vision and points of Li Xuanqing and his wife, more importantly, the general laboratory of the industrial group headed by Mu Chen has completely formed a one-stop industrial chain from theory and practice to R&D to production. The several major plates of the royal family's assets that Qiaoxi had built up single-handedly can now be listed separately and can provoke any of the six major families. Moreover, under the suggestion of Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi, most of the industries of the royal assets will not involve the final consumption of finished products, that is, all the final industries will be vacated to other merchants in the empire.

"Okay, it's worthy of being the queen's mother, and she is bold." Zhang Qiang's words made everyone here gasp, isn't Zhang Qiang's tone to build Suzhou into a real Northwest giant city? They alone need more workers than the aborigines of Suzhou, and if you add the people of the royal family and the equipment department, wouldn't the population of Suzhou probably exceed one million?

Zhang Qiang's words undoubtedly reveal a different kind of information to everyone, doesn't the fanfare of the royal family's assets in the northwest represent the importance that the imperial high-level attaches to the northwest? Therefore, in addition to Yuwenli, other businesses are also silently considering whether it is time to increase investment in the northwest.

In such a kind of speculation, the construction of the industrial zone in Suzhou is advancing rapidly, because the factories in this era are basically large-scale, without too much technical content, at most, individual factories are equipped with some heating measures, and the heat energy of the steel plant is extracted through pipelines as a measure for residents to keep out the cold in winter. Therefore, in February, Suzhou Industrial Zone entered the finishing stage one step ahead of Liangzhou. Nearly 200,000 people, such an almost infinite labor force, with at least dozens of the latest large-scale machinery and equipment, completed the construction of the main factory area in more than a month. The gradual formation of the industrial zone has allowed various businesses to immediately transfer all the backbone elements placed in the surrounding major cities with new employee training to participate in the later details of the decoration, and after the construction of the factory area is completed, various mechanical equipment will be transported by train to install, and the latest steelmaking furnaces and large mining machines will also arrive at the site to begin the gradual installation. Ignition began as soon as the machinery and equipment at the steel plant were installed, a dedicated line was extended from the mine directly to the steel plant, and a branch line to the railway station was gradually completed, so that the output of the industrial area could be sent directly to the rest of the country.

"I'll tell you a good news, starting next month, the rails used by our Northwest Railway will no longer have to be transported from Guanzhong and Fengzhou." The industrial zone in Suzhou has gradually been completed and entered the stage of machine installation and commissioning, while Anxi has gradually come out of the cold season in February, although the temperature in Shule in early March has not changed, but everyone still feels the different breath in the air. Liu Xuan saw the commander of several corps around Shule early in the morning, and said with a smile.

"Look at this, Suzhou is making rapid progress? I'm going to bring more captives over to help them when the time comes. Tie Liang said with a little regret.

"Whenever there are captives, the more the merrier for the Empire." Lu Yi, a cold-faced man, directly blocked Tie Liang back with a word, and let the latter look at his expressionless face without saying a word for a long time.

"Okay, okay, the two generals, the marshal and the deputy marshal have been waiting inside for a long time, isn't it a little inappropriate for us to be here again?" Hammoud hurriedly grabbed the two of them, otherwise it would be a strange thing for Tie Liang's temper not to hold back internal injuries.

Tie Liang was a little embarrassed to be said, but I have to say that Hammod's performance last year conquered the respect of the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army, so Tie Liang decisively followed Hammoud forward and took the initiative to smile at the other party.

"I heard you kid yelling outside, why are your hands itchy? I'll tell you, one of our tasks this year is to capture more prisoners. After everyone entered the tent, Gao Siji looked at a few people and said with a smile: "In order to ensure the progress of Suzhou, the deputy prime minister directly transferred all the prisoners of war who built the railway, didn't you see that the prisoner of war camps near Shule were empty?" Originally, Shule planned to build four straight roads leading to all directions after the year, but now that we can only start construction, the rest of you can watch it. ”

"Adjutant General, isn't today's meeting going to be about capturing prisoners?" Tie Liang saw that although Gao Siji was looking at others, he was obviously talking about himself, so he smiled bitterly: "I just shouted, why did I attract so much?" Looks like I can't speak today. ”

"You are right, the basic content of today is the problem of saving, and one of them is the problem of captivity." After Wan Yi came over, everyone immediately saluted, and then sat down to listen to Wan Yi continue: "One of the two contents of today's content is the issue of saving. Wan Yi repeated Gao Siji's words before, and admonished: "The problem of prisoners can be big or small, but it is a big deal for the current northwest of the empire, although the prisoners of war consume food, but according to the current disposal method of the cabinet, it is very useful, and whether the decision of the civil affairs section on the construction of the railway to Shule this year can be completed depends on how many prisoners we can capture." ”

"Okay, I know, I'll tell my brothers to take it easy, don't kill them all." Us'er and Hammoud glanced at each other and understood what it meant, and Tie Liang also knew the truth, so he followed: "That wealth needs to be exchanged for merit, right?" Otherwise, it is estimated that there will be a fuss at that time. ”

"These are the specific rules, and you will decide for yourself when the time comes." Liu Xuan gave each of the three of them a detailed list of rules and continued: "The big handsome has promised the deputy prime minister, you guys, you have to work hard this year, otherwise the big man will lose face and I'm afraid he will strangle you." Liu Xuan's words made everyone laugh and understand how big the meaning is.

"Okay, the second item for today." Wan Yi glanced at Gao Siji, who stood up and spread out the map hanging behind him and said, "The command has decided to divide the troops and start the battle on the southern front. ”

"In late March, the headquarters of the heavy cavalry battalion chose the opportunity to enter Khotan and the Anxi Corps to form a southern marching corps to attack the Safar dynasty and recover many territories on the southern front." Gao Siji pointed to the map and said: "At present, the main force of the Anxi Corps has been stationed in the large and small Bolu areas, and the front line is still a secret guard. Therefore, your mission is not only to fight south, but also to assist the logistics personnel to open a straight road from the protection to the south. ”

"What the deputy marshal means is that on the southern front, we want to take all the land of the Safarid Dynasty and restore all the prefectures of Sulma, including the Persian Governor's Palace, which was under the protector of the Anxi Metropolitan Tent, right?" Hammoud said thoughtfully: "It's just that although the Safarid Dynasty itself is not strong in battle, they have the support of the Heavenly Sect World behind them, and although the Great Food Empire is now divided, its strength is not comparable to the other forces we faced before." Hamoud knew a lot about the Great Food Empire, so he was still a little worried: "After we enter the Safarid Dynasty, it will inevitably arouse the vigilance of the other party, and if their army advances eastward, it will inevitably affect our attack on Samani and Qarluq." ”

"So I'm going to personally sit on the southern front and take a step-by-step approach." Gao Siji nodded appreciatively and said: "The tactics of the southern front and the northern front are different, the southern front needs to stabilize a place when it takes a place, and the northern front is mainly to annihilate the living forces. Gao Siji said to Tie Liang: "Therefore, the heavy cavalry battalion, as the main force of the Southern Advance Corps, you need to enter Khotan and join Zhang Sheng in advance. ”

"This is also the reason why the cabinet is anxious to establish an industrial zone on the Suzhou side, in order to support the Western Expeditionary Army to continue to recover the Anxi homeland, and we need to create an unprecedented empire." Wan Yi said coldly, making everyone's faces solemn.